Cyberinfrastructure for Public Access and Open Science

The Cyberinfrastructure for Public Access and Open Science (CI PAOS) program, operated by the Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure (OAC), is aimed at enabling and enhancing socio-technical partnerships. These partnerships will support research data infrastructure ecosystems through various fields via the early-stage collaboration of researchers, scientists, computing experts, data management experts, research labs, university libraries, and other practice communities.

This program aligns with the NSF Public Access Initiative, promoting innovation within the cyberinfrastructure ecosystem to address issues like accessibility, reliability, reproducibility, sustainability, and usefulness of data products. The program's goals coincide with those of the NSF Public Access Initiative, the Office of Science and Technology Policy's memorandum on free, immediate, and fair access to federally funded research, and the characteristics of data repositories for federally funded research.

CI PAOS builds on previous investments, including those made through Dear Colleague Letters NSF19-069, NSF20-068, NSF 23-018, and the FAIROS Research Coordination Networks (RCN) program solicitation (NSF 22-553). The NSF accepts proposals for this program all year round.

Potential proposers should note that successful CI PAOS projects typically consist of a strong, collaborative team with skills from scientific/engineering communities, research data science, and information science disciplines. They should also be adept at leveraging connections between cyberinfrastructure researchers/providers and data specialists.

International collaboration is particularly welcome, as science and engineering research and education benefit tremendously from global cooperation. Proposals must align with one or more of the following themes or pathways: Competency Building, Capability Building, and/or Community Building.

For Competency Building, the project should demonstrate collaboration driven by open science/engineering. It must address disciplinary, interdisciplinary, domestic, and international data lifecycle challenges. The proposal should clearly outline the goals, difficulties, rationale, and potential for transformative research impact on the open science ecosystem.

For Capability Building, the project should involve experimental or initial activities. Successful proposals will clearly outline science utilization scenarios and use cases.